


White Cold and Beasts

by Nonesane



Category: Elfquest
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 18:44:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4972114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonesane/pseuds/Nonesane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gust hadn't meant for things to end up like this. With Icicle wounded and far, far from the Dens, she'll have to trust in the help of the under-dwellers.</p>
<p>She's dead. She know she's dead. But she can't help struggling to stay alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	White Cold and Beasts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [russian_blue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/russian_blue/gifts).



Icicle's blood was dripping onto Sharptooth's fur, coloring the usually white hairs a dull red. Gust didn’t look at the blood. She was too busy keeping pressure on the wound at the same time as she fought to remain seated on her bond’s back. A running ice bear was a challenge to ride on a good day and this was nothing close to a good day.  
  
**I’m close to the entrance,** Gust sent out, fighting back tears. **You better be there!**  
  
Behind her she could hear the beasts grunting and baying, their talons clattering against the ice.  
  
**I am ready.**  
  
Despite the fact that ice could not block sendings anymore than air the answer felt muffled.  
  
The ice behind her creaked under the weight of her pursuers. Her heart was in her throat and holding on to Icicle was getting harder for each second. The blood made her as slippery as a seal.  
  
Sharptooth gave a cry. His front legs buckled and Gust tumbled off, Icicle falling on top of her. Gust sobbed, fought against the jarring pain radiating up her arm from her elbow and pushed Icicle aside.  
  
She was so cold. Cold and still, like the red snow around her.  
  
Sharptooth had taken up position between the beasts and the two elves. He roared, the sound echoing across the open plains of ice. The beasts did not falter. The one that had stung Sharptooh pulled back the barbed tentacle that had done the deed and backed into the ranks of its fellows.  
  
Gust fought to breathe. She could see no gaps in the beasts' ranks. No escape.  
  
**I am ready,** came the sending again. **Why are you delaying?**  
  
The hole in the ice. It was just a few strides away. Gust pushed Icicle into it, whispering apologies or possibly threats - she herself couldn't tell.  
  
**Hurry!**  
  
The reply was so hatefully calm. **She has lost a lot of blood and I can only work so quickly. It's not easy when I have to keep her from drowning and freezing as well.**  
  
Gust cursed all the under-ice-dwellers from the deepest part of her spirit to the tip of her ears. **Just heal her!**  
  
**She's badly hurt,** came the answer. **It will take time.**  
  
**I don’t have time!** The snarling beast-things were clawing nearer for each heartbeat, Sharptooth's roars no deterrent.  
  
No answer. Gust choked back a sob. At least Sharptooth could be saved. He wasn't the best hunter among the bears, but he was a hunter nonetheless. It would be foolish to have him fight and die. The beasts weren't after him.  
  
::Go!:: The thought was more a sensation than a word. She forced it into Sharptooth's reluctant mind, feeling every sting of his loyalty and confusion. ::Run! I will swim! Run!::  
  
Sharptooth looked over his shoulder, a quick glance. Their eyes met. It almost looked like he gave a nod, but that was of course impossible.  
  
He sidestepped. Gust bit down on the inside of her cheek to not let more sobs escape. Any noise from her would reveal her trick for what it was. She'd never survive a dive. Not unless…  
  
Unless…  
  
As Sharptooth began to circle around the beast-things Gust dragged herself towards the hole. The water was pitch black, a starless night sky come to ground. It quivered as the ice bent under the weight of the gathered not-animals.  
  
The biting cold of the air was one thing; she'd lived through more snow storms than the tribe had fingers to count. But water didn't play by the rules of air, ice and snow. Water would choke the life out of you as well as freeze you.  
  
It was a stupid, stupid plan.  
  
**I'm coming in!**  
  
The healer's mind reached for her like a mother bear grabbing at a cub playing by the ice's edge. **What?**  
  
**I'm surrounded by the cursed monsters!** Gust sent, uncaring of the fact that fear kept spilling through her mind's barriers, drowning her words and leaving mostly images and emotions in its wake. **All you need to do is get me to another hole in the ice before I choke or freeze to death.**  
  
**But-**  
  
There was no time to reflect on the healer's faint thought, hinting at exhaustion. No idea to think about the attention he needed to give Icicle. Thinking meant sure death.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye Gust spotted an approaching, clawed tentacle. She took a deep breath.  
  
She dove in.  
  
The water hit her like a hammer blow to the chest. She squeezed her lips together and kicked for all she was worth, one hand clamped over her nose and mouth. She didn't dare open her eyes.  
  
Her jaw locked shut. She could feel _something_ scratching at her boot. Her back hit the ice, the air trapped under her clothes bringing her upwards.  
  
She wanted to scream.  
  
**I am Kalree. I am coming for you.** The mind-touch was as oppressive as the chill of the water.  
  
Gust felt arms wrap around her, pull her down. Her lungs were burning, her skin felt like it was being pierced by an uncountable number of needles. She clung to the under-dweller with all her might, which wasn't much as her wet gloves made her grip as weak and feeble as if she were a newborn cub.  
  
The pressure of the water around her picked up. She could sense the other elf kicking - or was he kicking? Did he even have legs? - pushing them away. And then she couldn't think of anything more than air, air, sweet lovely air, she ne-  
  
**Stop struggling or I'll lose my grip!** Kalree sent, his mind as heavy as the water around them. **I'll get you out, quit your whining.**  
  
She tried to focus, tried to answer in some way, but the burning in her lungs and the blind panic it spurred took over. She fought to relax, fought to not twist or kick. Movement would waste air.  
  
She was ready to scream, to open her eyes, or do something else insanely stupid when she felt the arms around her change their grip. With a stomach churning push she was pressed upward. It felt like she'd be crushed.  
  
Gust went sailing through the air like a thrown glove. She hit the ice rolling and coughing, every limb shaking.  
  
**That should teach you not to jump in the water without planning,** Kalree sent. The emotions behind his words, few as they were, made Gust feel like he thought her a seal cub or sharp-bite young; not very bright, not very important, but with no wish for her death. **Your friend will be returned to your home tomorrow. Go there.**  
  
Gust didn't answer. She knew there'd be no point. Better be grateful for what she'd gotten and try to make it home alive than ask for more under-dweller help.  
  
She sat up, mindful of any creaking from the ice. Looking around for any familiar landmarks or stars and she heaved a sigh of relief as she spotted Stand Still Peak no more than half a day's walk to the south.  
  
Patting down her clothes she was dismayed to find them all soaked through. What protection they had been when she'd fallen in had been lost in the fast swim Kalree had dragged her on.  
  
She sat there and felt herself shiver. In her eight times five turns of the sun she'd never been this cold, at least not so far from home or other elves. Even her bond-friend was on the other side of the Great Ice Hills, hopefully safe from beasts that might stalk the ridges there.  
  
But she'd not fallen prey to the beasts. If she was to die, she'd die like many of her ancestors had before, embraced by snow and ice.  
  
Not a bad death.  
  
She tried to tell herself this as she pushed herself to her feet. Her teeth were chattering against each other and her legs shook so much she almost lost her footing just standing, but she got up.  
  
A good death was a welcome one, but she'd rather have none at all.  
  
**Will you make it home unharmed?**  
  
The sending started Gust enough for her to misstep and slip on the ice. She stared down at the frozen water she was lying on, as if it had risen up to bite her. Unable to do more she sent back her confusion and surprise.  
  
**I'm sorry to have startled you,** the familiar mind voice sent. **And I must apologize for Kalree. He doesn't understand much about the world above, has never bothered learning, and thus he didn't understand what peril he's put you in by throwing you up there whilst soaked to the bone.**  
  
There was exhaustion along with the words and the sympathy. It took Gust's chill-addled mind a moment or three to place the mind voice. **Healer?**  
  
**Yes,** the healer sent back, right below her. **My name is Hendol. I'm sad I couldn't do more to help.**  
  
**You are?** Perhaps not the most appropriate of questions, but Gust was too tired, too alone and too cold to bother with tact.  
  
There was a pause. Then Hendol sent: **Shouldn't I be?**  
  
Gust thought back to her handful of encounters with the under-dwellers. She thought of their blank eyes as the Council had told them of the beasts. She thought of their cool indifference as the Elders had asked for help. She thought of the one Globe had Recognized; she'd left the night after their joining and never been seen again.  
  
**I don't know,** she sent back once that path of thoughts had been walked. She struggled back onto her feet. **I can't say I know much about under-dwellers, so you're better at knowing what you should and shouldn't feel.**  
  
Though the ice was too thick and covered with snow to see through, she thought she could sense where the healer was. His sendings kept shifting a little, like he was swimming in a circle under her.  
  
**I do not wish to leave you by yourself at a time like this,** Hendol sent. His thoughts were worried. How strange.  
  
**I'll make it,** Gust sent back, trying to keep how cold she was out of the sending. **How is Icicle?**  
  
An image of dark waters reached her, as well as the silhouette of Icicle, seen much clearer by the sender's eyes than it would have been through Gust's own. **She will live. I'm keeping her asleep so she won't hurt herself.**  
  
Wise choice. Gust had no idea what she would have done if she'd woken up under water and ice, no matter if there was another elf there with her. **Thank you.**  
  
**I'll swim with you until you reach your people,** Hendol sent.  
  
**Don't push yourself,** Gust sent back, surprised to find herself worrying a little for Hendol himself alongside her worry for a failed healing. **I saw the hole in Icicle's side. It can't have been an easy job patching that up. You must be tired.**  
  
**I'm only a little tired,** Hendol sent and Gust could feel it for the lie it was. **Your friend-**  
  
**Lovemate.**  
  
**Excuse me?**  
  
**She's my lovemate.** Gust had begun to put one foot in front of the other. It wasn't exactly walking, more hobbling, but it was getting her somewhere.  
  
**Oh, I see.** There was a pause that felt like a frown. **We don't… I don't think any of my people have been lovemated since Maschra was young.**  
  
**What?** Shaking with cold as she was, Gust couldn't help but laugh at that. **Why?**  
  
**…I don't know.**  
  
All right. Better not start digging there. But they'd need something to distract themselves with if they were going to make it all the way to the Dens.  
  
**How did you end up in this situation?**  
  
Well, that would do it. **Stupid reasons,** Gust answered, forcing herself to stumble on faster.  
  
**Those are usually the ones that lead to trouble.** Hendol's sending was coming from slightly to the left of her, right below the ice.  
  
Gust let out a bitter laugh through chattering teeth. **We should have know better. The cubs among us know better!**  
  
**What were you doing?**  
  
**We were up on the Great Ice Hills. Icicle wanted to practice her magic.** Shaking her head Gust trudged on. The winds were thankfully kind this evening, only letting her namesake brush against her from time to time.  
  
**I sensed some magic in her, but I'm not good enough a healer to guess at what kind. What is her gift?**  
  
**Water-shaping,** Gust sent with pride. **She will be one of our best warriors one day. Unless I get her killed first.** The last was added with some bitterness.  
  
**It was your idea to go to the Great Ice Hills?** It was clear Hendol had never seen the hills in question himself; the image he sent back to her was a blurred reflection of her own sending, bounced back to her like a deflected ball of snow.  
  
**I thought solitude would help her.** Gust made sure to add a sense of how stupid she now realized that idea had been. **The cubs are always begging her for a show and the Elders keep pushing her. She's not allowed to go on hunts anymore and-** A gale flared up, pushing a wall of snow ahead of it. Gust did her best to wrap her wet clothes tighter around herself. **No one goes up to the Great Ice Hills anymore. They haven't since I was a small cub.**  
  
**Because of the monsters?**  
  
It was odd hearing an elf who had to be at least an eight of eights older than her use such a childish term. **Yes, because of the beasts.**  
  
The rest of the walk faded into a blur of inane smalltalk, which in itself was a novelty to Gust. And wasn't that lucky - if it hadn't been for the constant sendings keeping her mind off the excruciating cold and the way all her limbs ache, her toes and fingers most of all, she'd sat down in a pile of snow and let sleep take her.  
  
Who had been the last to speak with an under-dweller like this? Casually, about things that weren't life threatening or even serious; what games the cubs would play, what celebrations were coming up, who the current Elders were, and what they usually ate when the feasts were far away. Maybe no under-dweller and bear-blood had talked so since the time of the First Flight.  
  
The sight of the Dens' round roofs pushed all such thoughts aside. Gust sent for aid the moment she spotted them, knowing her tribemates couldn't be far. She would live and so would Icicle.  
  
The replies came in waves. Concerned Elders, curious cubs and confused agemates alike reached out to her, telling her riders were coming, bringing warm clothes and furs, hot soup and, of course, the tribe's own healer.  
  
**Help is coming,** Gust sent to Hendol. **You can-**  
  
**It’s in the water! **It’s in the water!** **  
  
Numb as she was Gust could only stare in disbelief at the ice below her. Another gale had brushed the snow aside, baring the ice. Below the misty surface there were shadows coming from sun-goes-down, slithering and huge. As they drew nearer she could hear the ice cracking something huge brushed against it from underneath.  
  
Gust managed to do the wise thing and keep absolutely still. **Break the ice!** she sent, openly to anyone in range. **The beasts have gotten in the water! They're hunting Icicle and the under-dwellers' healer!**  
  
The shadows curled under the ice. They spread, darkening the water below as soot would, and Gust could feel the ice tremble beneath her. ~**Are you hurt?**~ she lock-sent to Hendol. ~**Is Icicle-**~  
  
In answer all she got was the feeling of pure, strangling panic, together with flashes of dark water growing darker and glowing eyes each the size of a seal _following_.  
  
**Get them out, then get off the ice!** Gust looked over her shoulder and wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry at what she saw. The whole tribe was out on the ice, all but the youngest cubs, hammering at it with pikes and spears.  
  
Another thud. The cracking of ice was deafening.  
  
Gust lost her footing. She hit her shoulder against the ice as she fell, which sent a shock of pain through her chill-numb body. She could feel the movement in the water below the ice, hear how the creatures were repositioning themselves for another strike.  
  
Arms grabbed her. She struggled, until a sharp "It's us!" stopped her dead. Looking up she was met with the sight of Wander and Frostbloom, holding on to her arms and dragging her across the ice as if she were a broken sled.  
  
The screaming was deafening. Not the screams of elves no - her people knew better than to make noise this close to the enemy - but from the creatures beneath. The bone chilling noise turned any elf's stomach and made ears ring at a distance. This close it left Gust deaf and throwing up; though she had no food in her belly which to vomit.  
  
Wander and Frostbloom had Gust on her feet before her second bout of heaving. They had both her arms over their shoulders, which was a good thing as Hendol's continuous stream of panicked images was joined by a second sender: Icicle.  
  
** _Soscaredallwrongwhatwhat_ **what** isth-noairnoair **noair**!**  
  
The flood of emotions left Gust gasping just as Icicle broke the surface.  
  
**We've got them!** sent Keensight. **These beasts don't seem keen on leaving the water. We should be safe once we're on steadier ground. Back to the Dens! Retreat!**  
  
The blur of motion that the flight back to the Dens consisted of was one Gust knew she'd never untangle. But it ended with her and Icicle wrapped in the same furs in the Gathering Den, with Softglow tending to their frostbites.  
  
Once the worst blurr had gone from her vision she noted that unexpected company had joined them.  
  
Hendol was exactly as Gust had pictured him and yet not at all. The under-dwellers were many more than the bear-bloods had ever been, and only those who still had legs ever came to meetings by the Dens. They were taller with shorter ears than Gust and her kin, and their hair and skin came in odd colors - not to mention their eyes, as black as a starless sky - but they looked like elves.  
  
Hendol… Hendol had the lower body of a sharp-bite; a thick tail in black and white that made his elf-like torso look small and weak in comparison. He had no hair and there was something about the shape of his eyes - not just their one-note color but something about how they were placed - that seemed strange in a way Gust had no words for.  
  
He'd been given no fur, which was customary, but someone had been thoughtful enough to leave him a bowl of water.  
  
Gust was about to send something to him when all the Elders entered the Gathering Den, parading in as if for an official Council. They stopped in a half-circle, facing her, Icicle and Hendol. Heart in her throat, Gust waited for their judgement.   
  
"We will speak to you two later," Elder Shinefur said, holding Gust's gaze in a grip of frost. "What you did was foolish and there must be consequences, but…" She made a gesture at Gust and Icicle, glanced at Hendol. "What you've gone through is fitting punishment for the time being. There are more urgent matters to attend to."  
  
She turned to Hendol and shame flared in Gust, fueled by the relief she felt at that.  
  
**Do you speak, under-dweller?** Shinefur's sending was open for all to hear.  
  
**I never learned.** There was regret in Hendol's mind voice. A ripple went through the crescent of Elders, though Hendol seemed not to notice. **I'd hoped to learn one day, but I fear I must send for now.**  
  
The Gathering Den was left silent both from sendings and words. Gust would have broken it in some way, to ease the pain she thought she saw in Hendol's strange eyes, but she found no words or thoughts to share. Exchanging a glance with Icicle was comforting, but no help.  
  
**What happens now?** Hendol sent, curled up in his corner. He looked prepared to be thrown out, left as food for the beasts. The sight of him, cowering so, had Gust wondering if the under-dwellers told the same kind of stories about bear-bloods as bear-bloods told of under-dwellers.  
  
**You should send to your people.** Elder Shinefur sent, seeming to have regained both calm and balance during the moment of silence. **If the beasts hunt you under the water as they hunt us on the ice, you all need to go to a safe place. Here is safe enough. For now.**  
  
**…you would allow us here? As shelter?** The disbelief actually gave Gust an odd sense of hope. Maybe all under-dwellers weren't as blind as they seemed to be.  
  
**We will allow it,** Elder Nightsky sent, stepping up to stand shoulder to shoulder with Shinefur. He was echoed by the other Elders. **No elf should lose their life to the beasts. Your young and cubs should not have to suffer because your Elders are unreasonable. Send to them.**  
  
It was as Hendol reached out far and wide as only the under-dwellers could that Gust realized things bigger than her and her mistakes were in motions. And in the sun turns to come she'd learn to love her foolish, foolish decision of training ground for Icicle.


End file.
